Luis de la Fuente recalls the day he met Lionel Messi and a young prodigy

Luis de la Fuente, the coach of the Spanish national football team, shared a memorable anecdote about facing a young Lionel Messi during his coaching days with Sevilla's youth team. De la Fuente recalled a Copa del Rey match against Barcelona where he was warned about a promising player named Messi. Initially, his team employed an individual marking strategy against the then-unknown talent.

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I'm going to tell you something very funny. Talking about Messi. I was coaching at Sevilla FC, in the División de Honor, and we played a Copa del Rey match against Barcelona, and they had spoken very highly of a kid named Messi. Well, obviously, at first, we put him in man-to-man marking.

However, the plan quickly unraveled. De la Fuente explained that with 15 minutes left in a tied match, the player assigned to mark Messi received a yellow card. In the brief time that followed, Messi went on to score four goals against Sevilla. This experience taught De la Fuente a valuable lesson about the futility of solely relying on man-marking against exceptional talents.

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In the 70th minute, we were tied at zero, and when the player marking him got a card, I substituted him... In 15 minutes, he scored 4 goals against us. What does this mean? Are we going to put him in man-to-man marking? No. Are we going to be very attentive to him? Yes.

Now, De la Fuente finds himself in a similar situation, coaching a young prodigy, Lamine Yamal, who is drawing comparisons to Messi. The Spanish coach stressed the importance of allowing Yamal to develop his own identity. "Lamine has to be Lamine," De la Fuente stated, emphasizing that the best support comes from helping him remain the player they know, given his exceptional future potential.

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Lamine has to be Lamine; Messi is an unrepeatable player, he is a colossal talent and an example for younger athletes; his attitude, his behavior, at the age he is in this World Cup that he is having so spectacularly, I think he is an example.

Looking ahead to an upcoming match against Argentina, De la Fuente anticipates a "grandísimo espectáculo" (great spectacle). He described the encounter between the two "super teams" as a clash of significant talent and similar playing styles. De la Fuente also commented on the young Yamal's performance in a recent tournament, calling him an example for younger athletes due to his talent and attitude.

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But Lamine has to be Lamine, the best way we can help him is by supporting him, helping him to continue being who we have known because he has exceptional future potential.